Why should Ann Arbor drivers stop for the chicken crossing the road?

ANN ARBOR, MI - Forget for a moment that old question about why the chicken crossed the road.

In Ann Arbor, the question is why should drivers stop for the person in the yellow chicken suit crossing the road?

Answer: Because it's the law.

"Even if someone dressed in a chicken suit was crossing, because you love chickens, you'd stop. In Ann Arbor, we stop for pedestrians at crosswalks. Period. It's the law," states the narrator in a new Ann Arbor crosswalk safety campaign ad.

The city's new ad is airing across southeast Michigan starting this week as Ann Arbor's study on changing driver behavior continues in May and June with a new media campaign and more targeted traffic enforcement at crosswalks.

The city launched the study last year in collaboration with psychology professor Ron Van Houten and his research team from Western Michigan University. It began with the goal of using police enforcement, in-street messaging and communications to improve the yielding and stopping rates at crosswalks in Ann Arbor.

City officials say last year's efforts resulted in significant improvements at crosswalks. At targeted enforcement sites, yielding rates went from a mean of 27 percent to 58 percent, the city reported.

At observation sites where only data was collected, yielding rates increased from 37 percent to 49 percent, the city reported.

Additional crosswalk enforcement at targeted locations in Ann Arbor will begin on Tuesday, May 29, and last two weeks.

A dozen locations on commute routes are part of the study, with half receiving enhanced enforcement and stopping/yielding rate feedback, and the other half acting as controls where data is collected to find if compliance rates outside the targeted routes improve.

In addition to the media campaign and traffic enforcement, changeable message signs along streets will update drivers on yielding rates, allowing the public to see progress in real time.

Information about how much money the city has budgeted for the latest efforts was not immediately available.

The theme for the new ad is "If it was Your Loved One at the Crosswalk, You'd Stop."

There's been debate about Ann Arbor's crosswalk ordinance since it was first adopted in 2010.

It differs from state law by requiring motorists to stop not only for pedestrians in crosswalks but also those waiting to cross.

"Given the city's stated goal of increasing walking and their broader efforts to ensure that walking remains safe and convenient, Ann Arbor's crosswalk ordinance is reasonable. The ordinance formalizes existing expectations for driver behavior," TDG stated in a three-page memo on Nov. 13. The city's Transportation Commission last November also recommended that the City Council maintain the crosswalk ordinance in its current form.

One of the poster slogans for Ann Arbor's crosswalk safety campaign is "Look. Cross. Live. It's common sense: use the crosswalks."

The cover photo on the city's Facebook page is now a graphic reading "Stop at crosswalks. It's the law."